


He Was Brighter

by Lady_Perun



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Destiny 2, F/M, Not completely canon, WIP, Work In Progress, lore heavy, mission based chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:16:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Perun/pseuds/Lady_Perun
Summary: River, an older Titan Guardian, resurrected just after the Collapse, guides a newborn Guardian and refuses to allow the Vanguard to take control. Through time, they become friends. Old allies make a reappearance, leaving more questions than answers. They must work together to solve the mysteries of Time and defeat the Vex to achieve their goal.**Timeline: A month after Gaul is defeated**





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys! I'm back with a new fic and a new computer! Gonna be working on it as often as possible now that I have a working computer. I should have about 2-3 chapters (Including this one) prepared in advance. Let me know what you think in the comments! Any feedback is appreciated!

“Saint?”

“Saint!”

“Have you seen Saint?”   
“I saw him walking towards the hangar…”

The Titan ran as fast as she could. Rumors were rumors no longer. With him promoting Zavala, of all people, to the rank of Titan Vanguard, there was no question. 

_Damn Osiris to the Darkness in which he seeks…_

She ran down the hallway towards the Hangar, hitting the wall as she rounded the corner. She flew down the stairs and hit the fencing protecting the catwalk, frantically searching for Saint. Her body froze as she saw him walking slowly towards a ship; _his_ ship. 

“Saint!” she yelled, the desperation in her voice present. He turned halfway to see her, shook his head, and turned back around. 

Her heart sank. 

“Fidget.” 

Her Ghost appeared and twitched, obviously sensing her distress. 

“Get me to him. Now.” 

Fidget nodded and used his transmat ability to teleport them directly in front of Saint, who was not in the least bit surprised. She grabbed his chest piece and brought him close enough that their helmets were touching. She could feel the giant Exo tense. 

“You’re _not_ chasting that fanatic! Do you hear me?” 

His shoulders slumped. “I have to, River. Ple-”

She gripped his chest piece with both hands and slammed her helmet against his. She then released him, making him stumble backwards, and proceeded to scream out in frustration. 

“He’s chasing the _Vex_ , Saint! There’s no guarantee you’ll come back!” her hands balled up into fists, visibly shaking with the strain. “You’re willing to risk everything for that man?!” 

He reached up and took off his helmet, revealing his face and an expression she had never seen before. She was stunned into silence. He looked…

Defeated. 

He slowly walked back to River, hand reaching up to lightly grip her helmet. He leaned forward to leave a long Exo’s kiss upon the faceplate. 

Under her helmet, she cried silently. 

He closed his optics and rested his head upon her helmet. 

“I’m sorry, River. I have to.” 

She heard the engine of his ship rumble to a start, and the feeling of dread began to hang over her head like a dark cloud. 

He released his grip and walked around her. 

“I’ll come back. I promise.”

She shook her head. 

Neither of them looked back.


	2. Rumors

River was reviewing the list of upcoming Crucible matches when a member of her Fireteam came running up from behind her. 

“Riv? Crucible again?”

River turned around the coldly greet the overly bubbly Warlock, Alex-5, the newest member of the ever-growing Fireteam. 

She rolled her eyes and returned to the datapad. Shaxx stood ahead, watching the viewscreens and the current match. His arms were folded and he stood motionless, and silent, meaning he was clearly unimpressed. 

“So,” Alex dragged out, attempting to keep River’s attention. “I’ve got some interesting news for you!”

River ignored him. Under her helm, her eyebrows were knit together, concentrating on the match listings. Every match was full with newer Guardians, looking for a chance to fight and prove their skill, and no doubt excited for news of the next Iron Banner. It would be difficult to get into a match, but she needed it, so she kept looking. 

She noticed the Tower’s breeze had once again begun to hit her armor. She looked up to find Alex at Shaxx’s side, which surprised her. Alex despised the Crucible and actively left that responsibility to River and a few of their other, more experienced members. 

River sighed. “Okay Alex, what do you want?” 

Alex wormed his way away from Shaxx and slowly walked his way towards her, a serious expression replacing his usual mischievous one. He nodded in the direction behind her, to where Zavala took up residence. 

“I heard there’s a new Guardian coming.”

Her hands tightened on the datapad, enough to hear the metal scream with resistance. 

“A newborn?”

“Yea.”

She tossed the datapad down and quickly turned around and made her way towards Zavala, her heavy footfalls echoing on the metal catwalk, and eventually, on the concrete. She turned the corner and stopped a few feet behind him. 

She crossed her arms and stood as straight as she could. 

Zavala sighed. “Yes, Guardian?”

“You’d best leave the Newborn alone. We don’t need another Guardian grovelling at your feet.”

He turned then, his face showing no emotion, as usual. 

“And what do you expect them to be? They are a Guardian, just like you, me, and everyone one of our friends and allies. This is the first new Guardian born after our war with the Red Legion, with Ghaul.” 

She shook her head. “So let’s indoctrinate them like you did the Hero, have them do all the work and save the City while you sit comfortably at a desk, giving orders, get _your_ name plastered on a wall, while they suffer in silence. That’s your plan?” 

“Guardian…” Zavala said, the words laced with a warning. 

Her post took a threatening appearance as her feet planted firmly against the ground, her shoulders rolled forward, and her head tilted slightly forward.

“No, Zavala. You keep chasing away the greatest of us. The Hero has gone _insane_ and is off forgetting who we are!” She threw her hands up in frustration and anger. “If this Newborn is the next Chosen, you will _not_ take them down the same damned path.” 

Zavala said nothing but put his hands behind his back. 

“Let me be their guide.” River said. “I’m not letting you take them, Zavala. I’m sick and tired of watching new Guardians go mentally sick and make grave mistakes because you work them to their damned deaths.”

He closed his eyes and brought two fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose. 

“If it will keep you in line, then... “ He sighed, “then I suppose.”

She scoffed. 

“Keep me in line. Sure thing, Zavala. Maybe someone should take your place so that we can have enough Guardians to actually make a difference, yea? At this rate I might as well take your seat.”

With that, she turned around and made her way to the Tower’s landing zone to meet the first Newborn since the Tower was rebuilt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, just letting you know the first two chapters are shorter than what I'm used to writing, but the third chapter definitely longer than these two. I'll try to keep up about a 2k minimum word limit as I feel that's how most information and thoughts are given within a single chapter. I could do more, but don't want to overdue my thought process.


	3. Newborn

His ship broke through the clouds, revealing a large structure. His Ghost saw the look of confusion and awe on his face, saying “That is the Tower, Guardian.” He looked at his Ghost, and back to the Tower. 

“That is the place where the Guardians live and thrive. Where the greatest of them take up residence.” 

His brows knit together in thought. “The greatest?”

His Ghost twitched and his pieces spun. “The ones who have saved us from the Darkness, time and time again. I’ve met a few of them, Guardian. You’ll like some of them.” 

He laughed. “Only some of them?” 

Ghost’s eye winced and he fell back, almost looking frightened into speaking about them. “There’s a Titan. She’s terrifying.”

He laughed. He was resurrected as a Titan, specifically as a Striker. Ghost had mentioned something about Awoken and Exo people, but he had no clue what Ghost was talking about. How could another Titan be terrifying when there were new species of humans? 

“I doubt she’s that scary.” He laughed until he turned and saw his Ghost silently judging him. “What?”

“You’re a Newborn, so I’ll just keep quiet.”

Now that scared him.

 

The ship, a basic ship that reminded her of her early days, pulled into the Tower’s landing zone and hovered for a little while. She stood under the walkway in a dark area, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She had occasionally glanced towards Zavala to make sure the man wasn’t going to come this way, even though she knew he didn’t ever make special trips for anyone. 

She had been there for a little over an hour before the ship came. In that time, she had gotten several notifications of new missions to be completed as well as some messages from Shaxx telling her that there were several openings in tomorrow’s games. She had accepted all of them. Missions could wait. 

Her Fireteam had also made an appearance in the Tower. She made some light conversation with them over their current mission, which was apparently the long-lost Mida Multi-Tool. Banshee had told them a bit, but, with his memory being shot, could only give vague locations and points of interest. River already had a piece of the schematics and had given them that as well as a location of interest she had scoped out earlier. They promised her a Mida once they found all parts, and left. 

That was probably one of the few things she valued nowadays - that she had a Fireteam who valued her expertise and time on the field, and that treated her with far more respect than they gave even the Vanguard, but also treated her as an equal. She appreciated the bit of normalcy in her life.

However, Shaxx had become the target of their teasing. That was most definitely her fault. She knew it. Shaxx knew it. He made sure she was aware he knew. 

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of a transmat. She looked to the left, and found a new Titan Guardian and a Ghost. The ship was gone. Both of them looked around a little bit until the Ghost’s eye landed on her, to which it hid behind the Newborn. She smirked a bit, knowing full well which Ghost this was. 

The Newborn looked in her direction and she raised her hand and prompted him to come to her. As he walked over, she could see the Ghost shaking a _no_ at him. 

“Hey, Newborn.” She said as he approached. 

“Hey!” he greeted. “You’re the one Ghost told me to be scared of?”

She laughed. “Absolutely.” She leaned her head a bit to get a view of the Ghost. “I’m glad you finally found your Guardian, Ghost. Took you long enough.” 

Fidget came out of hiding then to view and scan the Newborn. 

“Oh hush, you.” The Ghost spat, causing her smirk to grow. 

“You’re so lazy, we didn’t think you’d ever find a Guardian.” said Fidget. 

The Ghost turned to glare silently at Fidget, making him laugh. 

“So what’s your name?” asked the Newborn.

River stared at the Guardian. Judging by how he carried himself and how cheery he was, she guessed he couldn’t have been more than 25 when he had died. Probably not older than 20. To her, that meant he would be hard to teach, let alone hard to take on missions. She sighed. He was another Alex. 

“My name’s not important. Not until you become a true Guardian.” His shoulders slumped a bit at that. “However, I would like to know your name.” 

He stood silently for a few moments before looking to his Ghost for answers. 

“Guardian, nobody will know your name. You can create one of your own, if you want.” 

He looked then to River and asked, “Can you at least give me a hint of what your name is?” 

“It’s based on the location where I was brought back.” 

His head fell and his arms crossed in thought. A few more moments later, and he said, “Gareth.” 

River tilted her head. “That’s quite specific. Where’d you pull _that_ from?” 

He shrugged. “It was the only thing that came to mind that sounded good.” 

She shook her head. “You’re young and have an imagination. Why did I opt in for this?” 

He looked to her in confusion as Fidget spoke. “You told Zavala off for him. We’re in trouble because of you.” 

Gareth, behind his helmet, widened his eyes at the heavily laced sarcasm her Ghost just unleashed… and who was Zavala? He looked back at her to find her shaking her head. 

“He needed to be thrown off the pedestal for once, Fidget. You don’t like him either.”

“Well I have a reason.” 

“And what is that?”

“Because of his missions, I’ve had to bring you back countless times. He says we’re lazy but I haven’t seen his Ghost do anything of the sort.” 

“So, who’s Zavala?” 

Fidget and River turned to Gareth and his Ghost. 

“And why is your Ghost named Fidget?”


End file.
